Soul Express Bonus tracks These 8 tracks didn't quite make the record but they might be fun to stick on your ipod! Feel free to download, and maybe read about each track and why they didn't quite make it.

Extra just added! Pins & Needles (live version) download mp3	This track is taken from a concert recorded at the Catalina Jazz Festival, October 2006. Originally this track appeared on my Hip Sway album (2000). Always a fun track to play live. The band at this show was myself, Rodney Lee (Keys), Gregg Karukas (keys), Paul 'Shilts' Weimar (sax), Rico Belled (bass) Sergio Gonzalez (drums). This was not particularly well recorded at the show but you can certainly get the vibe of an electric night!
1) What Is The Thing download mp3 (C. Standring/Mr. Christian Music BMI) Chris Standring: Guitar and programming Rodney Lee: String arrangement & keyboards	This track was a huge experiment after I decided it was time to venture into new creative territory at the beginning of 2005, possibly because I got hold of a new program to write music with. This was one of the first tracks I did entirely on my own without Rodney Lee or anyone else for that matter. Quite freeing actually. I didn't include this cut on the album because I felt it was just too different from everything else. It felt a little too "DJ" as much as I love the track. I'm very much into crossing real musician's music with "DJ territory", I think this genre hasn't been explored enough. But more importantly, my limited engineering skills might be enabling this somewhat...
2) Felt download mp3 (C. Standring/Mr. Christian Music BMI, R. Lee/ Dream Planet Music BMI) Chris Standring: Guitar Rodney Lee: Keyboards & programming Stan Sargent: Acoustic bass David Karasony: Drums	I went down a very self indulgent road when I first started getting tracks together for the Soul Express album. Originally the album was going to be entitled "Little Journeys" because every track we came up with took you on a ride. This track was recorded at that time along with "Giant Steps" and Shooting Stars" and with the same rhythm section. I really like this track but again I felt (pardon the pun) that it was a little too self indulgent and dark for the album. We ended up going for a more R&B feel with a lot of the tracks and this clearly wasn't that. So I let it go.
3) Touch The Moon download mp3 (C. Standring/Mr. Christian Music BMI, R. Lee/ Dream Planet Music BMI) Chris Standring: guitars Rodney Lee keyboards & programming Andre Berry: Bass David Karasony: Drums	"Touch The Moon" originally manifested from a piece of music that Rodney Lee brought to me. I thought it had potential and so I put a melody to it. I ended up thinking it was a good pop song but ultimately felt like it was really not me at all. Too pop, and a little safe. I think the melody is nice but at the end of the day it just wasn't groovy enough for me.
4) Apple Cake download mp3 (C. Standring/Mr. Christian Music BMI) Chris Standring: guitars & programming	This track was another song I wrote on my own in my home studio, experimenting with loops and new software. The sonic quality was clearly not good enough to put on a CD because I was really still learning how to do stuff on my own. I actually quite like this track, it's got a 'chill' vibe to it and I had great fun with sound effects, but I didn't feel like I said anything with this track that I hadn't said before, so it didn't quite make the grade.
5) Funky With You download mp3 (C. Standring/Mr. Christian Music BMI) Chris Standring: guitars & programming	Another track I did on my own in my new studio. I didn't have a keyboard at this time so I had to figure out how to record bass and keyboards. I ended up using only guitar, but for the bass I used an old Boss Octave pedal so I could still use my Benedetto guitar and get that octave below. I thought the bass sound was really funky but the track is noisy as hell! Of course Rodney thinks that's just funky! I also felt that Rodney & I had written this track several times before, maybe during the Solar System days.
6) Footsteps In The Rain download mp3 (C. Standring/Mr. Christian Music BMI) Chris Standring: guitars & programming	I had fun with this track, again in my home studio, mostly with loops and lots of fun sound effects. Rodney, my trustee producer partner, thought I had written something like this before on the Groovalicious album, specifically a track called "Ray Of Sunlight". I knew what he meant and so didn't pursue it. Nice vibey track but nothing groundbreaking.
7) Groovy Tuesday download mp3 (C. Standring/Mr. Christian Music BMI) Chris Standring: guitars, synth guitars & programming	This was the very first track I recorded in my new studio at home in 2005. I sent an mp3 to Rodney and he called me straight away on the phone and said "Man that is dope!" or words to that effect! I always liked the track but for some strange reason never jumped up and down enough to put it on the record, despite Rodney's pressure to do so. I eventually added some rhodes (by way of my guitar synth) and I am now half wishing it did make the record. I think it might have fitted quite well. Oh well...
8) Le Pont Des Soupirs download mp3 (C. Standring/Mr. Christian Music BMI) Chris Standring: guitars & programming	I wrote this track old school, meaning just like I used to years ago with an acoustic guitar, a pencil, manuscript paper and an eraser. I love writing this way it just feels right. I was engaged to a French woman last year (although sadly we are now dis-engaged) and there is no question that this has an extremely French influence. No coincidence there. My fiance Beatrice at the time appropriately titled this. I love this song and of all these tracks, this was the one that probably should have made the album, but again, all the tracks that did make the album came out sounding and feeling much too different than this.